A recent case from the Upper Tribunal decided that there is no statutory right of appeal against a Home Office refusal of the application by an extended family of an EEA national. The citation for the case is Sala (EFMs: Right of Appeal) [2016] UKUT 411 (IAC).
Extended family members are those who are not covered within the provisions of paragraph 7 of The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 (“the Regulations 2006”). Provisions of paragraph 8 of the Regulations 2006 define them. Therefore the above decision does not affect spouses or family members of the EEA nationals such as children or parents and will typically include unmarried partners, as in the above case, and other more distant relatives.
The Upper Tribunal reached the decision by interpreting the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 26 of the Regulations 2006 and concluded that only those having “entitlement” have a right of appeal under the Regulations. As the extended family members do not have such “entitlement” to be admitted or to be issued with documentation under paragraph 2 of the Regulations 2006 they do not have a right of appeal.
The decision will have a huge impact in practice as anyone who is an extended family member and whose application was rejected by the Home Office will not be able to use appeal proceedings at the First-Tier Tribunal and argue their case in substance, they will only have a recourse to Judicial Review.